EXCLUSIVE: All 18 blockbuster movies you need to watch on the big screen in 2025
As the Golden Globes honour last year's TV and film hits, Daily Mirror Columnist Jessica Boulton brings you up-to-speed with every single epic blockbuster due to hit our cinema screens in 2025. How many of these will you be watching?
Awards season is in full swing with the Golden Globes celebrating the past 12 months in TV and Film this weekend. But why look backwards when you can look forwards?
Yes, as Hollywood gathers to pat itself on the back for the films we've seen, we are bringing you the ultimate guide best blockbusters and big-name sequels that will be hitting the big screen in 2025.
Between the the pandemic, the actors’ and writers’ strikes and the boom in streaming, it’s been a tough few years for our local multiplexes.
But whether you’re a fan of Avatar and out-of-this world special effects or just can’t get enough of rom coms and gritty crime dramas, Hollywood seems determined to bring out all the big guns this year (and not just the ones in the action movies)....
Superman: Legacy (Out July 11)
Every generation has their Superman: From the one and only Christopher Reeve to 90s’ TV star Dean Cain and from Smallville’s Tom Welling to DC’s most recent Man of Steel, Henry Cavill.
(Oh, and Brandon Routh in 2006’s not-so-super Superman Returns).
READ MORE: Superman fans go wild for trailer as beloved Krypto the Superdog seen for first timeBut now there’s a new face behind Clark Kent’s glasses - that of relative newcomer David Corenswet, previously seen in last year’s Twisters. It’s a blow to Cavill fans but DC are banking on us falling in love with a younger Kent in his early days at the Daily Planet and The Marvellous Mrs Maisel’s equally-marvellous Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane.
The blockbuster epic is the first major release in the new DC Universe being overseen by Marvel’s former Guardians of the Galaxy visionary James Gunn.
So will it be a success? Well, it’s one of the world’s biggest superheroes in the hands of one of the world’s biggest superhero movie directors. So it’s safe to say Superman won’t be the only thing flying in to DC this summer.
The money will be too.
Our Excitement level: 5 / 5!
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (Out Feb 14)
Talk about bringing out the big guns....because One Day and White Lotus star Leo Woodall certainly has some.
Yes, Renee Zellweger is back for a fourth Bridget movie and, this time, Mark Darcy is ‘no longer on the scene’ (no spoilers, but pack your tissues if you haven’t read the book).
So what will Bridget do without the love of her life? Fortunately, she has options: Hugh Grant returns as the smarmy Daniel Cleaver, Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a hunky schoolteacher and Hollywood’s current golden boy Leo plays a very hunky toyboy.
Expect big questions, big life changes, big laughs and more big pants.
Excitement Level: We’ll always love her just the way she is.... 5 / 5!
Captain America: Brave New World (Out Feb 14)
Marvel fans will have already seen Anthony Mackie’s Falcon aka Sam Wilson being promoted to the new Captain America in the Disney Plus series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. But will he still be able to fill Chris Evans’ shoes when it comes to the big screen?
This is part of the new ‘phase 4’ in the ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’ so prepare to be completely floored by all-out action as The Cap’ battles rogue US President Thaddeus Ross, played by the iconic Harrison Ford. All with a sprinkle of Marvel’s trademark comic touch, of course.
Excitement level: Harrison going to the Dark Side? It’s got to be.... 5 / 5!
Downton Abbey (Out September 12)
It’s due to be a poignant outing for the cast with the film promising a “meaningful” tribute to the late Dame Maggie Smith who passed away aged 89 last September.
Bosses are keeping tight-lipped on the plot but with Julian Fellowes writing the script, Love Actually’s Simon Curtis directing and the likes of Paul Giamatti, Dominic West and Joely Richardson joining the old familiar faces, it’s set to be another period classic.
Excitement Level: 5 / 5!
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Out May 23)
Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt takes on not one but two timely adversaries in the eighth instalment of the daredevil franchise: an all-powerful AI and.... Russia.
And apart from the usual death-defying stunts, the new movie also includes another triple threat - the multi-talented Hannah Waddingham, who is joining Simon Pegg and the rest of the team for this latest mission.
With rumours Tom wants to find an unknown actor to play a younger version of Ethan for two prequels, it could be a while before we see this movie maverick again, so expect this swansong to be IMAX-worthy.
Excitement level: 4 / 5!
Ballerina - A John Wick Story (Out June 6)
Ana de Armas plays a female assassin in this spin-off from Keanu Reeves’ outstanding John Wick revenge thriller series.
The story takes place between the events of John Wick Chapter 3 and 4 so Keanu and the infamous Continental Hotel will also be making an appearance. But don’t be fooled - Ana is no dainty damsel in distress.
Excitement Level: 4 / 5!
Disney’s Snow White (Out March 21)
West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler plays the eponymous heroine with Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen in this latest of Disney’s Live Action remakes.
The movie’s already making headlines thanks to its decision to replace the seven dwarfs with seven CGI “magical friends” (to avoid causing offence) and Zegler publicly slamming the 1937 original because the Prince wakes Snow with a non-consensual kiss.
Excitement level: 3 / 5
Back in Action (Out January 17)
Talk about life imitating art. Stars Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx are both making an unexpected comeback from retirement to play former CIA spies who - yes, you’ve guessed it - make an unexpected comeback from retirement.
Glenn Close also joins the action comedy with Cameron expected to return to her Charlie’s Angels’ best.
Excitement Level: 3 / 5
Jurassic World: Rebirth (Out July 2)
Brit director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Godzilla) takes the helm for the latest dino outing with Chris Pratt being joined by Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Moon's Rupert Friend, Moonlight’s Mahershala Ali and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey.
It’s exec produced by Steven Spielberg and written by David Koepp, who adapted Michael Crichton’s novel for the original 1993 smash hit Jurassic Park, so this movie definitely has teeth....both in front and behind the camera.
Excitement Level: 4 / 5!
Avatar: Fire and Ash (out Dec 11)
James Cameron’s spared fans from another long wait for a sequel, as our third trip to Pandora comes just three years after 2022’s The Way of Water, as opposed to the 13-year gap between the first two movies. This time, we see the Na’vi meeting a new clan, the “Ash People”, as Everything Everywhere’s Michelle Yeoh joins as a new scientist.
With more of his famous groundbreaking storytelling, visionary Cameron is set continue his reign as King of the (movie) World.
Excitement Level: 4 / 5!
AND THE BEST OF THE REST....
That’s not all the cinemas have in store for 2025.
Marvel will be following Captain America with Thunderbolts (out May 5), which sees anti-heroes from its previous films, including Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier and Florence Pugh’s Black Widow character, team up to help save the world (think DC’s Suicide Squad but for Marvel villains).
Meanwhile if you prefer your action cape-free, Brad Pitt’s going all Days of Thunder in race driver drama F1 (out June 27) and Trainspotting’s Danny Boyle is returning to his 28 Days zombie thriller series, taking the helm of the third film, 28 Years Later (out June 20), starring Jodie Comer and the bookies’ fave for the next 007, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Comedy fans can also look forward to The Naked Gun, (out August 1) in which Liam Neeson will take on the late Leslie Neilson’s role as the clueless Frank Drebin with Pamela Anderson at his side.
Meanwhile drama lovers can look forward to Timothee Chalamet’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and Wicked: For Good, with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo back for the second half of the famous story (our November 21).
Two of the biggest movies however are yet to have an official release date but both are expected to be out this year. The Peaky Blinders movie will see Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy return from his Oppenheimer success for another outing as crime boss Tommy Shelby.
Cillian's fellow Irishman Barry Keoghan also joins the cast - but don't expect a repeat of his Saltburn naked boogie from Saltburn though -Peaky Blinders is more about murders in the streets than the dancefloor.....
Filming has already wrapped on the movie but the show’s creator Stephen Knight it might be late 2025 by the time it's ready. On the plus side, he did confirm it won’t be the last we’ll see of our Tommy and co, suggesting a new film franchise could be in the offing.
Also expected to be released in 2025 is a very long-awaited sequel to 1987’s iconic Dirty Dancing, which will see Jennifer Grey resume her role as Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman with the late Patrick Swayze’s character Johnny Castle also honoured in the script.
True DD fans will know there was already a prequel - Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which saw Swayze take up a cameo role in 2004. But this will be the first time we properly return to Baby and Johnny’s story. It’s been rumoured for a summer release, so get those watermelons ready....
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